LEDs are getting better, much better

Various Japanese companies have been busy behind closed laboratory doors to enhance LED lamps, according to Japanese newspaper Nikkei. Companies such as TechInTech Co. or Scivax Corp. are looking for ways to make brighter LEDs that use less power and can be sold for a lower price.

Scivax Corp. used nanotechnology wizardry to create dents on a sapphire substrate. The dents, which are merely 150 nanometres deep, keep the light shining in one direction.

TechInTech and its parent company Dainippon Screen Mfg. have teamed up with Scivax to sell manufacturing equipment for the nanodented substrate to LED makers some time early next year. According to the report, the equipment will cost somewhere in the range of 1.8 to 5.9 million dollars and can be used with existing production lines, meaning no other investments are required.

Toshiba Lighting on the other hand has found a method to let heat escape more easily, making the lamp brighter. Rival company Sharp has put a method into practice which simply makes LEDs brighter by placing LED chips closer to one another. Research is also being conducted into how to make LEDs with less components and materials in order to make LEDs cheaper.

One can hope that this will make handy trekking kit such as Petzl headlights cheaper and far more efficient. Yours truly can vividly remember a not so nice situation in the rainy, cold and unfortunately very dark Norwegian mountains where LEDs shone brightly, helping the troupe create a ramshackle shelter using two tarps to keep dry and get some rest. Yes, it’s nice when technology can help.